Academic Support
At Banksia Park International High School, students are always encouraged to do their best.
The school’s resource centre is open on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons from 3.15pm to 4.00pm for students who prefer to do some quiet homework or study. Students have access to all resources and computers during this time. Subject teachers often use this time to meet with students for extra tuition and assistance with their studies.
Accelerate Program
The Accelerate program emphasises a culture of learning. It provides support and intervention to enhance learning and works in conjunction with our student behaviour management guidelines.
Students in year 7 to 10 can be referred to the accelerate program for non-completion of an assessment task, or for unsatisfactory completion of an assessment task.
When teachers set tasks they set deadlines for the completion of the task, usually in consultation with the students. Students are then expected to complete the task to the best of their ability and submit it by the due date.
If a student does not submit the task by the due date or submits a task deemed by the teacher to be below the standard that the student is capable of achieving, the student and their parents receive dual notification that the student is expected to attend an after school accelerate session. This session occurs after a weekend on a Wednesday afternoon from 3.15-4.00pm. If students complete the task or improve it to an appropriate standard before the Wednesday, upon submission the relevant teacher can remove the students from the accelerate list and students can have the task contribute to their assessment. The consequence for the student is that they will not receive a grade higher than a C.
If a task has not been completed prior to the Wednesday accelerate session, students work on the task and submit it by the end of the session to enable it to be assessed. If the student does not submit the task they will receive a zero grade for the task.
The program is designed to motivate students to complete all of their assessment tasks to an acceptable standard and to submit work by the deadline. Records are kept of student attendance and hence targeted intervention can occur to support students who have ongoing issues. Supervising staff provide direct support to students during the accelerate time. Students who fail to attend their scheduled accelerate time without an acceptable reason will be followed up by appropriate student behaviour management steps.
Stage 1 and 2 students who do not submit tasks by the due date receive a zero grade for that task and parents are notified by a letter home, which is often supported by a parent phone call from the teacher concerned to discuss issues further.